I think maybe it was a tragic case of a teen not fully grasping the situation—imagine being a young teenager with strict parents, sneaking a boy into your room. You're super worried your parents will find out about your boyfriend being there, and they'll be mad because you're sneaking your boyfriend into your room.…

Some have, but if you're realistically looking at getting into Ivies, you need to apply to a lot of schools. I remember most schools offering a waiver for financial hardship as well, if needed. And 5 years ago, when I applied, a few had stopped asking for fees entirely, and some waived fees if you applied for an…

The Shadow of the Sun, A.S. Byatt.

That's true (though girls attempt suicide more often), and it's definitely a problem. I'm glad this university is giving them counseling. It would be really nice if more schools were as proactive about the mental health of their students...

Um. I would say there is an "adversity advantage along gender lines" all through high school— and before. Do most boys deal with getting objectified and cat-called even before puberty and forever after? Do boys not get called on as often and not have implicit assumptions made by teachers about their ability based on…

That's what forensic anthropologists are for.

I once did an anthro 101 project on door holding, and yeah— it really seems like people do go through whatever door the person in front of them did, even if that person is far enough ahead that they don't hold the door. Humans are weird.

I've definitely changed the way I speak on purpose. I do millennial/internet-speak now, which is deliberate. In 8th grade I spoke the way I write, which made me sound more intelligent but also meant I had no friends because no one knew what I was talking about. I don't know if you can make yourself actually dumber on…

Well, he does get in shit for not knowing more about astronomy later on...

Then the one who said that "Almost all of the high IQ people in the world are guys."

Yes, the professor should let men never show up to class and give them different standards from women, in her gender studies class. He reallllly should have gone to that class...just, wow. Also, the whole oh, yeah, I'll just NEVER show up and assume the professor will okay it after...just, dude, what? No. What? Looks…

Dark Places is my favorite of hers. That protagonist is a lot more likable, and the plot is not as crazy. If you didn't like this one, Sharp Objects gets to similar levels of weird, so you might not like it, but the protagonist isn't Nick-and-Amy levels of unlikeable.

Perfection :) They're just so great...so many complicated feels!

I wish I had a This gif. With Obama. But alas, I am lacking in Internet skills today, so we shall have to imagine it.

Just the other day, there was a four-year-old sitting in front of me and my friend at Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. There was also a toddler somewhere in the theatre who kept crying and asking "why?" whenever something bad/scary happened. The four-year-old was definitely following some of the plot— he kept…

If I ever have a daughter, I'm naming her Saoirse. And her teachers and classmates will deal with it. Bwahahaha.

Oh my God, yes. My dad joined AA when I was a little kid and has been sober ever since, and my mom stopped drinking when he did. Her (adopted) sister and her husband met in AA, and a lot of my dad's friends are AA people, so I grew up in a culture where alcohol was basically the devil. Two of my dad's siblings are…

Oh, yeah, no, that's definitely not the same, and that really is obnoxious. I had one person who had been that, but had then reconverted to "being spiritual," as he put it, and he somehow managed to be doubly condescending because of it, both to people involved in more organized religion, and to atheists. That type is…

They shouldn't be acting superior about it, but for someone raised religious to come to terms with being an atheist is, in their life, often a big whoop. It doesn't make them better than anyone else anymore than coming out as gay or even just figuring out something big about who you are does, but those are still big,…

I mean, some religious people do this too (mostly evangelical Christians, in my experience, but not always). My personal favorite is when people find out I'm an atheist and say, "But have you ever thought that maybe something from Sunday school 101?" And I'm like, "Yes. I didn't stop believing in an afterlife and give…